American Children & Knights

[cachalote]

well jamie, i must confess i knew nothing about joseph campbell... 
is he big in u.s.a.? 
he had a good motto - follow your bliss. 
the playmoboard reference was, of course, just a joke - a joke about a joke, some would say (just kidding) - not intended to trigger any kind of competitive spirit (it would be too unfair to accept such an unworthy and weak competitor). 

[Jahme88]

well jamie, i must confess i knew nothing about joseph campbell... 
is he big in u.s.a.? 
he had a good motto - follow your bliss. 
the playmoboard reference was, of course, just a joke - a joke about a joke, some would say (just kidding) - not intended to trigger any kind of competitive spirit (it would be too unfair to accept such an unworthy and weak competitor). 

 
No better motto than that......it leads us all to Playmobil!!!
I couldn't gush more about the work of Joseph Campbell.  The interviews of him by Bill Moyers are riveting.  His worldview is expansive and deeply satisfying for me to learn from.  He explains so much about the intertwining and universality of mythologies and religions, particularly influenced by Jung.

I guess you could consider him "big" in the sense that his writing was so influential on George Lucas when he was writing Star Wars.....certainly a modern Knights tale.  A Jedi is as much a knight as those is shining armor.     Chivalrous warriors fighting for the good of all.  Hooray!

 I feel like the single greatest anchor for all of humanity that ties our interest to the medieval epoch was the Arthurian Legends.  It is that same story told a thousand times, wearing a distinctly European mask.  This mythos gave the entire world a fascination with the image of Knights, Castles, Maidens and so forth.  So that no matter if you were born in Brazil, or Canada, or India, or Russia, or what have you.....you feel that a Knight's story is your story.

woohooo!

[Klickus Mobilius]

 
 I feel like the single greatest anchor for all of humanity that ties our interest to the medieval epoch was the Arthurian Legends.  It is that same story told a thousand times, wearing a distinctly European mask.  This mythos gave the entire world a fascination with the image of Knights, Castles, Maidens and so forth.  So that no matter if you were born in Brazil, or Canada, or India, or Russia, or what have you.....you feel that a Knight's story is your story.

woohooo!

I'm sorry, but knights don't fascinate me.  I have never looked at knights or King Arthur the same after watching "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" years ago.  If I were to ever start collecting knights, I would want to customize them to recreate scenes from the movie:  "You don't frighten us, English pig-dogs!  Go and boil your bottom, sons of a silly person.  I blow my nose at you, so-called Arthur King, you and all your silly English k-nnnnniggets.  Thpppppt!  Thppt!  Thppt!" 

Hmmm...now there's an idea.  Has anyone already done that?   

[Martin Milner]

I'm sorry, but knights don't fascinate me.  I have never looked at knights or King Arthur the same after watching "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" years ago.  If I were to ever start collecting knights, I would want to customize them to recreate scenes from the movie:  "You don't frighten us, English pig-dogs!  Go and boil your bottom, sons of a silly person.  I blow my nose at you, so-called Arthur King, you and all your silly English k-nnnnniggets.  Thpppppt!  Thppt!  Thppt!" 

Hmmm...now there's an idea.  Has anyone already done that?   

LOL I haven't seen it done, but that is an AWESOME idea.

There is a LEGO version of the Spamalot song on Youtube. I haven't got the know-how to do Playmobil videos, but that might be a good starting place.

[Gepetto]

I'm sorry, but knights don't fascinate me.  I have never looked at knights or King Arthur the same after watching "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" years ago.  If I were to ever start collecting knights, I would want to customize them to recreate scenes from the movie:  "You don't frighten us, English pig-dogs!  Go and boil your bottom, sons of a silly person.  I blow my nose at you, so-called Arthur King, you and all your silly English k-nnnnniggets.  Thpppppt!  Thppt!  Thppt!" 

Hmmm...now there's an idea.  Has anyone already done that?   

I have seen some Playmobil customs of the knights from the movie, will see if I have some pics. That movie was so out there it didn't really register as a 'knight' movie anymore than 'Blazing Saddles' registered as a western (love both movies).

I am also a great fan of Joseph Campbell.




Gepetto

[cachalote]

well jamie, we just have to convince playmobil's design department to make some cut-in-half coconuts instead of horses.
  with the recent roman and egyptian themes maybe it will be also easier to reproduce "the life of brian".
  i still prefer the "flying circus" series to their movies though.
  an example - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy6uLfermPU

[Klickus Mobilius]

well jamie, we just have to convince playmobil's design department to make some cut-in-half coconuts instead of horses.

The cut-in-half coconuts would have to have skinny middles so the Klickies can hold onto them...Playmobil already has enough farm animals including a cow to throw over the castle walls...Oh! The Roman battle tower can be converted into the Trojan Rabbit!...And there's a suspension bridge add on that can be used for the bridge in that scene where you have to answer the three questions.

This can work!

But I'm taking this thread on a silly tangent.  Sorry, Martin.   

Okay...we now bring you back to Jung, Kurosawa, Cervantes, and Campbell...

[Little Jo]

If I remember correctly they have been done by Playmolitho (Heydi on Playmoboard) and there exists several films on youtube, e.g. here.

[Klickus Mobilius]

If I remember correctly they have been done by Playmolitho (Heydi on Playmoboard) and there exists several films on youtube, e.g. here.

 

[Sylvia]

Interesting subject!

I grew up in Australia, a country which was not colonised by the British until the late 18th C. As such, it has very few buildings which date back past the Victorian era. Those that do remain are mostly in ruins now but are being carefully looked after by national heritage organisations.

When I was living in Australia, Europe always appealed to me more as a possible holiday destination than the US, simply because of the wealth and depth of history its countries offered. I guess the notion of castles and knights appealed more to my romantic side, even though in reality those times were brutal.

After living in Scotland for a while and visiting countless castles over the years, I got some of the fascination out of my system.

I suppose that American children and Australian children would have quite a similar outlook because they both come from nations which are "young" by comparison with countries in Europe.